This is the second of a two-part series looking at what meatpacking has meant for southwest Kansas. Click here to read the first part. GARDEN CITY, Kansas — Outside an old, white two-story house in downtown Garden City, dozens of people stand in a loose row that spills out of the driveway and onto the…
MORTON — The great pumpkin shortage of 2021 is turning out to be as real as Linus’ Great Pumpkin. Neither ever showed. Instead, despite some national headlines about a pumpkin shortage this year, Midwestern farmers say there’s nothing to worry about. “God granted us quite a bounty this year,” says John Ackerman, who grows pumpkins…
GIBSON CITY – In August, nine inches of rain dumped on one of Randy Aberle’s fields of corn and soybeans near Gibson City, Illinois. “We had some areas in those fields that the water was four feet deep,” he says. Luckily, he says, those fields have enough slope that the water drained off within a…
Mexico is phasing out genetically modified corn for human consumption by 2024. But U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said he’s been assured by his Mexican counterpart that the ban won’t shut off the biggest international customer for U.S. corn. U.S. farmers rely heavily on genetically modified crops. The crops contain altered DNA to withstand viruses…
An African Swine Fever outbreak in the U.S. could kill millions of pigs in the country, mean financial ruin for some growers and put a quick end to the country’s lucrative pork exports. So federal and state officials, made all the more wary by the disease showing up in the Caribbean, have begun plotting how…
John Deere workers walked off the job after the United Auto Workers union failed to negotiate a six-year contract with the tractor maker. More than 10,000 John Deere workers at plants in Iowa, Kansas and Illinois and distribution centers in Georgia and Colorado went on strike Thursday after their union contract ran out at midnight….
STILLWATER, Okla. — The medical marijuana industry in many areas is booming, but some utility providers struggle to keep up with the growing need for water and electricity. Since Oklahomans legalized medical marijuana in 2018, nearly 10% of the population has obtained cards to buy cannabis. Meanwhile, 8,630 growers have opened shop in the state….
LINCOLN, Neb. — For years, consumers have been eating more and more dry peas, chickpeas, lentils and beans. Bags of lentils or canned chickpeas aren’t a surprising sight in a grocery store, but a closer eye may reveal some surprising bean and pea products on the shelves. There’s PeaTos, which are similar to Cheetos but…
When it rains on a farm here in central Illinois, the water that runs off into local streams and rivers carries with it excess nutrients leftover from fertilizer. Those nutrients eventually flow into the Mississippi River and, ultimately, into the Gulf of Mexico. And while you can’t see them with the naked eye, those nutrients…
Some Midwestern farmers are involved in a research project to help determine how good some practices are for the environment, and it may help them take advantage of new attempts to establish a carbon credit trade market. https://cpa.ds.npr.org/kcur2/audio/2021/09/CARBON-FEATURE-WEB.mp3 The project run by Missouri Corn Growers Association and Missouri Soybean Association is looking at quantifying the…
RAYMOND — A pig’s ideal temperature is 65 degrees Fahrenheit. So on a 90-degree day in the middle of July, Phil Borgic keeps a close eye on his herd. “A pig can’t sweat,” he says. “So the only way that it can transfer the heat is by panting.” https://cpa.ds.npr.org/s138/audio/2021/08/livestock-climate-change-hpm-web.mp3 The air is humid and heavy…
People who work outside increasingly risk their income, illness and even death as climate change ramps up extreme heat. That’s according to a first-of-its-kind study from the Union of Concerned Scientists, titled “Too Hot To Work.” The study focused on workers who spend some or all of their work time outside, including construction workers, emergency…
MOUNT PULASKI – Think about your favorite produce stand at the local farmers market, how fresh and delicious those fruits and vegetables taste. Now imagine if that produce was available at, say, your kids’ school or the local grocery store or hospital. A new farmer-led cooperative is hoping to make that a reality by building…
Millions of rural residents across the Midwest are at risk of nitrate contamination in their drinking water, but they might not know it. Many rural residents get their drinking water from private wells, which are not regulated by state or federal governments. And if residents aren’t regularly testing their well water, they could be at…
SPRINGDALE, Ark. – Tyson Foods Inc., one of the largest food manufacturers in the country, is recalling more than 8-million of pounds of chicken products after illnesses and one death linked to Listeria. On Sunday, the US Department of Agriculture issued a press release. It states the frozen, fully cooked chicken products were produced between…